Comparo: Nissan GT-R versus Porsche 911 Turbo‏

Story and photos by John LeBlanc Nissan set the stage for a heroic David and Goliath battle when it introduced its new GT-R supercar last fall, flatly stating its "performance bogey" was none other than Porsche's iconic 911 Turbo. Seriously? Seriously. On public roads at legal speeds, there's very little to choose from between the two in terms of outright performance abilities. So for a true clash of the supercar titans, we needed some room to play, and lots of it. How about a closed airport runway, far away from other vehicles and with an emergency crew on hand – just in case? Okay, that sounded about right. The idea was simple: accelerate from one end of a 1.6 km runway to a braking point at around 1.2 km, as quickly as possible. It wouldn't be a comparison of time, but a weighing of how each car felt. First, the numbers. The GT-R, with its nearly turbo lag-free 3.8-litre engine, balanced front-engine/rear transaxle chassis, and fast-acting all-wheel-drive, mimicks the Porsche's 480 hp twin-turbo six-cylinder engine and all-wheel-drive tech spec. The Japanese supercar has also posted some very 911 Turbo-like performance numbers: 0-to-100 km/h in around 3.6 seconds, and a top speed nearing 300 km/h. Nissan has also lapped the GT-R right in Porsche's backyard – at Germany's famous Nurburgring Nordschleife racetrack – faster than any product out of Stuttgart (actually, quicker than any production car). The 911 Turbo, the GT-R's performance inspiration, was originally created in 1975 to give Porsche a high-end competitor to vehicles from Ferrari and Lamborghini. Today, it's hard to not fall in love with the kidney-punches the current 911 Turbo's 3.6 L twin-turbo flat-six throws, the near-perfect steering its rear-engine placement allows – its true sports car feel and topnotch build quality. But is the $196,000 Turbo more than twice as good as the $81,400 GT-R? As any creative accountant will tell you, numbers alone only tell half the story. That's why even though both cars match up quantitatively (well, except for price), we were more interested in how these two paper rivals behaved qualitatively. The only 911 Turbo available to Canadian media is a fully optioned $196,000 cabriolet with a five-speed Tiptronic manumatic (a hardtop Turbo with a $4,790 Tip and $12,300 ceramic brakes comes in at $175,390.) But don't think a Turbo/Tiptronic is less advantaged here. It comes with a standard Sport Chrono package that not only adds a chronograph-style stopwatch to the Porsche's dash, but also 45 lb.-ft. of torque to the manual car's 460. First up on the runway tarmac: Nissan's David. Funnily enough, getting the GT-R ready for takeoff is similar to running a pre-flight checklist on a jet. Suspension flipped into the firm "R" setting? Check. Transmission switched into "R" mode? Check. Switch off the stability and traction control? Check. Based on previous experiences, I knew it was best to drop the GT-R six-speed dual-clutch tranny into manual mode, place my left foot on the brake, then right foot on the gas. When the rpm hit around 4,500, the clutch was dropped and the brakes were released automatically. Boom! Right away, I could feel the AWD hook up, trying to keep the big supercar heading in the right direction. Rough shifting at lower speeds, the two-clutch tranny is sublime when pushed. As the wind noise and speed started to increase, the GT-R's 1,740 kg curb weight (120 kg more than the Turbo) started to rebound off the pavement. By the 200 km/h point, I could really feel the pitter-patter of the tires slapping the cracked runway pavement. With 400 m left, there was still plenty of room before I ended up in the infield grass, but I tried to squeak out a few more klicks of speed before hitting the binders. After the last of our three runs, the Nissan's brakes felt less confident. The best I could do was 249 km/h for a top speed. As dusk settled in over the runway, the moon and the mosquitoes started making their presence felt. Time to jump into Goliath. Right away, it was harder to get the Turbo to launch as cleanly as the GT-R. Doh! The Tiptronic prefers to start in second. This meant at the start, there was an awkward first-to-second-gear rpm drop. And once underway, upshifts weren't the rifle shots that exploded from the Nissan's rapid-firing dual-clutch box. But once up to serious speeds, all is forgiven. The smaller Turbo punched a cleaner hole through the thick evening air and with its Porsche Active Suspension Management (a two-range adaptive damping system) set to Sport, the Porsche sucked itself down to the runway like a hovercraft. Then it came time to stop. In day-to-day driving, the Turbo's ceramic brakes are really superfluous. At more than 200 km/h, however, and taking advantage of its rear weight bias – the Turbo kept its nose up like the hand of God was gripping the car, unlike the Nissan. On the very last run, we saw the Turbo better the GT-R. But only by 10 km/h, to 255. In these extreme speed conditions, it's hard not to see where Porsche spends its engineering budget: the Turbo is faster, more stable – and with ceramic brakes – stops shorter than the Nissan. But do the Porsche's slight advantages make it worth more than twice as much as the Nissan? You don't need to read the Bible to know who wins this battle. If you can afford and appreciate the Porsche's refinement, go for it. But for less than half the Turbo's price, the GT-R delivers 90 per cent of its capabilities. Plus the Nissan's roomier and more flexible ride for those summer evenings when you don't happen to have a deserted airport runway at your disposal.

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